brettt777

Okay, great. That makes sense. I have seen the little "v"s on the HUD and also wondered what they were. So I'm guessing that NAVFLIR cannot be used for targeting of any kind.

Okay, with all this discussion about the FLIR system in the Harrier, I thought I would throw this out there. When you bring up the menu to select the TPOD, there is also another selection for FLIR. What is the difference between FLIR and TPOD? Can this other FLIR be used for targeting? Where is the sensor? Here are some screen shots. The first one is the menu with TPOD on the right side and FLIR on the left. The second one is the TPOD page, the third is the FLIR page. I'm just wondering what this other FLIR is for. The fourth screen shot is for my second question. Whenever I go into A/G mode, I get these four short slashes in the middle of my HUD. What do they mean?

I've had this same issue. Last night I actually got it to work for the first time and while I think I have it down, it is not very intuitive. You really have to think about what you're doing. When I am doing it, because I just figured out how, I am in an active pause cuz I don't think I could do all that and fly the plane at the same time. At least not yet.

Okay, so last night I set up a mission where the targets were moving towards a distant waypoint. It took me a bit to get the switchology down right, but I did manage to get three Mavericks off and kill three of the four. The fourth one seemed to park and shut down cuz he appeared to go dark. Then I flew around looking for a better angle only to find out that he fled the area and was hauling a** down the highway so I did get him eventually. Anyway, I think I got it now. Thanks for all the help guys.

Yeah, I've seen that one. But I just found this one which explains everything.

Well, then I'm back where I started. I'm gonna go try the Harrier again and I will make sure my targets are mobile so there should be some kind of heat signature. Is this new FLIR system something that all the other aircraft will get at some point?

First, I'm wondering why there's no forum page for the Harrier. Anyway, I've been trying to figure out the FLIR and Mavericks in the Harrier. For some reason both the AAQ-28 targeting pod and the AGM-65F Maverick won't see my targets. Or I should say, they see them as cold and dark and therefore won't lock on and track. Last night I tried the exact same scenario with the F-16 and F-18 using the same AAQ-28 and the same IR Mavericks. They worked. All my targets were lit up and easily locked and tracked. Someone told me that the Harrier has a new FLIR. So, what does that mean? It's using the same Tpod and weapon as the Hornet. Why wouldn't the FLIR look the same? I've also thought about my targets looking cold because they aren't moving. Well, I have tried it with the targets moving and they are still sold and dark. Also, when I destroyed one BTR-80 with the Hornet last night, two of the others moved to change their location. So they aren't sitting there all shut down. Anyway, just trying to figure out what I need to do different to make the same setup work on the Harrier.

I would love to see one of the later versions of the Aardvark with the terrain following radar. I'd also love to see a Bearcat or Hellcat and of course, a WWII era carrier to fly them off of. Some WWII era scenery (Pacific theater) would be awesome as well.

Funny that you say that. I tried an F-16 and an FA-18 in the exact same mission last night. All targets were lit up and easily locked and tracked. I only have this issue with the Harrier. As you see in the screen shots, the AI vehicles show heat. They are obviously moving. I did think about that and I tried making my targets mobile. I still had the same issue. Cold and dark in the Harrier. I am thinking that the game does not have them sitting there all shut down and cold. I had four BTR-80's on a road not moving. I shot one of them with the Hornet and a couple of the other ones moved to change their location. What do you mean by new FLIR in the Harrier? I was using the same targeting pod (AAQ-28) as the Hornet and Viper. Shouldn't it work the same way in all aircraft? Or is there some new algorithm exclusive to the Harrier? I'm gonna go on the Harrier page and ask around and see what I can find out. Thanks very much for the replies.

Okay, now I just think it's a problem with the Harrier mod itself. Here are a couple screenshots I just took of an F-16 and an F-18 with the same targeting pod and the same IR Mavericks. The targets are all lit up like they should be. So apparently I'm doing something wrong in the Harrier.

Here are a few screen shots I took just a few moments ago. One is in FLIR white hot, one is in FLIR black hot, and the third one is in CCD. Then there are two of them, one white hot and one black hot, that show an AI vehicle showing a heat signature while my targets do not. And, these are not targets that I put in the mission. These are targets that the game put in there. I've got to be missing something obvious. Like I said, I have looked at Youtube videos of guys using the exact same setup; AV-8B Harrier with AGM-65F Mavericks and an AAQ-28 targeting pod and their targets are lit up.

Okay, the thing is... my displays DO show an IR heat signature. If an AI vehicle drives by my target, it's bright as can be on the Tpod or the Maverick. It's just my targets that I put out there for this mission. They have no heat signature whatsoever. They might as well be a big rock for all my sensors care. I see that your pics are of an F-16. I haven't tried any ground targets with that one. I don't know why it would be any different but at this point I'll try anything. I have tried it with the F-18 a while back and I seem to recall have similar results as the Harrier. I did have some success with the Hornet but probably because I was going after ships at the time.

I've been looking at all the great tutorials that so many have posted on YT and I've been trying to get better at the weapons systems. I've especially had issues with air to ground targeting and now I think I know why but I'm not sure what to do about it. I was watching a YT video today about using the AGM-65 IR Mavericks on the AV-8B Harrier. I would go through the exact procedure again and again but I could never get the Tpod or the Mavericks to lock onto a target. Then it dawned on me what I was missing... an IR signature. In the videos, whether white hot or black hot, their targets were always lit up and easily detectable. My targets aren't lit up at all. In white hot, targets are white. In black hot, targets are black. No IR signature at all. And these are moving targets; tanks and other such mobile artillery. So I'm making sure I'm in IR mode, etc and wondering what's up... and I see an AI vehicle go driving by my target, and it's glowing like a light bulb. Why are my targets missing a heat signature? I am going into the mission editor and creating a very simple mission; a Harrier with four IR AGM-65's taking off and flying up to an island that has four BTR-80's or T-90 tanks. I assign a waypoint to their location, and I assign some waypoints to the targets so they can be slowly moving. But my targets are always cold. No heat signature at all. What am I missing?

I have the latest and greatest version of the DCS F-35 mod. I also have FC3 installed and working. But the F-35 will only appear as an AI version. I had this same problem with the new FA-18EFG mod and turned out all I had to do was make sure my was set to "Player". I did this on the F-35 and it still doesn't work. Some have said that the F-35 will only work if it's in a mission. So does the quick mission setup not count? I've put it in there and tried to save it as a regular mission but it still doesn't work. Any more ideas?

Well, I tried a non-FFB stick and as expected, it worked... for the most part. It's complicated and I need to look at it more. But tonight, I plugged my G940 back in and tried an F-14B and a P-51D. For some reason I am not getting any FFB off the trim position like I use to. The FFB is still on; I could feel the vibration in a tight turn. But the pitch and roll trim had no affect on either plane even though the stabs on the Tomcat and the trim tab on the Mustang were working. The rudder trim did still work on the Mustang. So I dunno what's going on. I'll have to look at it more later.

Okay, I spent all day yesterday getting in every DCS aircraft that I have and verifying the trim operation. I was trying to see if I could correlate the issue to certain developers, etc. It didn't work. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Anyway, here's a list of what i have and whether or not they worked. These are the aircraft where the trim worked correctly, i.e. pitch trim moved the horizontal stab or the elevator and roll trim moved the ailerons. And, I could trim it to level flight. DCS FA-18C Hornet DCS F-16C Viper Deka JF-17 Thunder Heatblur AJS37 Viggen Razbam AV-8B Harrier Razbam M2000 Mirage These are the aircraft where the trim worked backwards, i.e. pitch trim moved the ailerons and roll trim moved the elevators. DCS F-86F Sabre DCS L-39C/ZA Albatros Heatblur F-14A/B Tomcat Magnitude 3 MiG-21Bi Fishbed DCS F-15C Eagle DCS Su-25A/T Frogfoot DCS Su-27 Flanker DCS Su-33 Flanker-D DCS-MiG-29A/S Fulcrum These are the aircraft where the trim worked backwards and even when swapped, I could not trim the aircraft to level flight, i.e. I couldn't keep the nose down. DCS-A-10A/C Thunderbolt II DCS-F-5E Tiger II Finally, these were the aircraft where rudder trim worked but pitch and roll trim worked as far as moving the appropriate controls and control surfaces but they had absolutely no affect on the performance of the aircraft. (Yes, I know the Spitfire has no roll trim). DCS P-47D Thunderbolt DCS-P-51D Mustang DCS Spitfire Mk. IX DCS TF-51D Mustang These aircraft don't have electric trim operation and are controlled with trim wheels. I tried it with the trim wheels on the G940 stick and with trim buttons on the Sidewinder and got the same results; rudder trim works, pitch and roll trim move the wheels and trim tabs but they have no affect on the attitude of the aircraft. I could literally watch the trim tabs moving while in flight and it would have absolutely no affect on the aircraft. I also have a couple add-on community mods. An F-22 in which the trim doesn't seem to work at all, and an A-4E in which the trim works correctly. I flew everyone of these yesterday and verified all of this. I tried it with two different control sticks. One was the complete Logitech G940 FFB system; stick/throttle/pedals, and the other was a Microsoft Sidewinder FFB2 used in conjunction with the Logitech system and the Logitech stick was completely removed from the control setup. I went through each aircraft and made sure all the trim controls were setup correctly for that aircraft. I got the same results with either stick. Obviously both sticks are FFB. I have heard that this is a known issue with newer versions of DCS, i.e. it doesn't seem to like FFB sticks. Here's the deal. Up until about six or seven moths ago, this was never an issue. I have had both of these sticks for years and they worked fine. All aircraft trim functions worked. Then right around the time we got updated to 2.7, I started having these issues. Yes, I can cure some of the issues by changing the trim button settings but I shouldn't have to. And that does NOT cure all of them. DCS needs to fix this. I realize I am one of the few that still uses a FFB stick. I don't think I should be penalized for that. I definitely prefer a FFB system, especially with the older aircraft that didn't have FBW or any kind of hydraulic flight controls. This simulator worked fine with my FFB in previous versions. I have an ancient Saitek Cyborg non-FFB stick that I'm gonna try today on a couple planes just for grins, but again, this all worked prior to the 2.7 update (not 100% sure that was the update but it was around that time). I have tried playing around with the FFB settings in DCS but really all I can do is turn it on and off. I haven't really done anything with the Logitech FFB settings cuz I don't use the Logitech program with DCS. I've never had to. Besides, the FFB itself seems to work fine. The problem is with the trim. By the way, in case anyone is wondering, both of these joysticks work perfectly in FSX, P3D and MSFS 2020. So, DCS... what can we do about this?

Is the AH-64 ever gonna have a 14 day trial any time soon? I can't buy it without a test drive. I was gonna buy the Mi-24 a while back but thought I better try it first. Glad I did. I absolutely hated it. So I gotta have a test flight in the Apache before it ever sits in my hangar.

No. No way. First off, like I said, I varied my speed from 300-500 kts but it didn't matter. And then, I got in my own MiG-21 and went up and tried to do some turning like that. The thing literally fell out of the sky when I tried to make those kind of turns.

Okay, so I go out and find my target with the radar and I get the seeker head looking in the right direction. Then I should be able to press and hold TDC depress and I should be able to use the TDC slew hat switch to slew the seeker head onto the target. But I can't get it to slew. I have the TDC depress on the joystick so I can press and hold it and I know it's working because I can lock a target on the radar with it. But when I have the AGM-65F view set as the SOI and press and hold the TDC depress and move the TDC hat, nothing happens. What am I missing here? I watched a bunch of tutorials on this and they always do exactly what I just described, and they can slew the Maverick. For some reason, I can't. I have found that I can eventually get the radar lock close enough to get the seeker head to lock onto the target, but obviously that isn't the most efficient way to do this. I need to be able to slew the AGM-65F seeker head. What am I doing wrong?

Last night I installed an F-22 mod. I watched a video on this mod compared to others and it seemed to be the closest to the real aircraft performance wise. So I go up against that same MiG-21 with it set on rookie and as I suspected, it kept right up with me in my F-22. I'm pulling max G's at varying speeds and it stayed right on my tail. So I swapped aircraft and went up in the MiG-21 myself and of course, if I even tried to pull any kind of serious G's, the thing falls right out of the sky. So yeah, the AI is a bit off.

I dunno. When I get a minute I'll look at that radar video. Maybe I'm missing something. Thing is, I've been an avionics tech both military and civilian for most of the last four decades. I know how a radar works. That being said, the only experience I have with A/A fire control radars is in simulators.

Well, I mean, I ended up close to the Bear but I started out from 40 to 80 miles away. And I was slewing my elevation up and down trying to find him. Mostly I had it straight ahead cuz according to the map I was at about the same elevation. Maybe the PRF, but I'm kind of doubting that cause after I gave up on the Bear, I got a Russian Corvette at about 60 miles in SEA mode and went after him with AGM-65'S... which I couldn't get to work either but that's a whole other story. Anyway, I picked up the Corvette at 60 miles with no adjustment (other than going to A/G).

It was a MiG-21. No way that is gonna out turn a Hornet. MiG-29, maybe. MiG-21... no way. Besides, in the first encounter I was around 300-350 kts. I know the MiG-21 is a bit faster than the Hornet in a straight line, but it most certainly can't out turn it. Back in the day it couldn't hardly keep up with an F-4.

I was trying some simple encounters tonight. Just a Hornet with A/A weapons going against a MiG-21. As I stated in another post, I could not get the other aircraft to show up on my radar, so I kept losing his position. I saw that he was trying to get on my six so I started turning. Well, somehow that MiG-21, which has next to nothing for a wing and is 50 years old... and I had the AI set to rookie, was not only keeping up with my turns, but actually got behind me and shot me down twice. Now, I'm not fighter ace by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know there is no way on God's green Earth that a MiG-21 is going to out turn an FA-18. That is never gonna happen. But it did tonight. I was anywhere from 300 to 500 kts, pulling sustained 6 G's and higher. And this MiG still caught me. I think the AI might need a bit of tweeking.

I did a couple of simple simulations tonight. Just a Hornet with a couple AIM-9's and four AGM-65F's. My targets were a TU-95 and a Russian Corvette. I had my A/A radar in RWS and I was close behind the Bear, but I could not see him on radar. I had my elevation looking straight ahead and range at 20. But I could not see him on radar. I got within a couple miles and I could see him, but still nothing on radar. I had tried this with a MiG-21 earlier and had the same problem so I thought I'd try a larger aircraft, but got the same results with the Bear. What am I doing wrong? Should I not be able to see an aircraft as large as a TU-95 in RWS?